By-poll snippets

History repeated as Lapang, Danggo share similar fate
SHILLONG: When DD Lapang was the chief minister in 1992, he announced the formation of Ri Bhoi district.
But that did not secure his win in the 1993 Assembly polls.
NPP candidate MM Danggo was instrumental in the formation of civil sub-division for Ranikor after he quit the Congress.However, his ‘sacrifice’ went in vain as people rejected him.

Three candidates forfeit security deposit
TURA: It was a loss for the two Independents and a Congress candidate in the twin by-elections that took place for South Tura and Ranikor seats, results of which were counted on Monday.
Former MLA and Independent candidate John Leslee K Sangma along with Chris Kabul A Sangma (Independent) failed to get the required ten percent of the vote share leading to a forfeit of their security deposit.
John Leslee polled a total of 2211 votes while Chris Kabul polled 897 votes, way behind the Election Commission’s mandatory requirement of securing 10 percent of total votes cast to get their security money returned.
Interestingly, the combined vote share of all three candidates, Congress’ Charlotte W Momin, John Leslee K Sangma and Chris Kabul A Sangma failed to narrow the gap of the victorious chief minister.
The votes obtained by the three candidates totaled 8,343 as against Conrad Sangma’s share of 13,656.
In Ranikor, Congress candidate Jackiush A Sangma also forfeited his security deposit failing to even cross the thousand figure mark in an election where the winner had secured 13,183 votes. The Congress candidate came last securing a mere 938 votes.

Three wins out of five elections for Conrad
TURA: Conrad Sangma tested success in the political arena for the third time with his victory on Monday.
His first political attempt in a by-election from Selsella ended in a defeat at the hands of Congress’s Clement Marak in the early 2000s. He subsequently extracted political revenge in the 2008 general election winning handsomely from the same constituency. He lost the 2013 general election against Marak but was elected as the new Tura MP following the demise of his father PA Sangma.
South Tura is his latest victory.
In the case of his Congress opponent, Charlotte W Momin, her husband John D Shira had unsuccessfully contested the 2003 election as an Independent candidate only to be relegated to a distant third in the results. Billykid A Sangma went on to win the Tura seat.

CM betters Mukul, Kyrmen victory margin record
TURA: The victory margin of 8,421 secured by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has surpassed that of his predecessor Mukul Sangma in Ampati and UDP’s Kyrmen Shylla in the February general election.
Shylla had won from Khliehriat constituency with a victory margin of 8,181 votes, the highest in that election.
Outgoing chief minister Mukul Sangma was also a contender for the highest margin of victory but fell short of Shylla’s mark.
Mukul’s margin of victory from Ampati was 8,104 votes against BJP’s Bakul Hajong. He later resigned from Ampati to pave way for his eldest daughter Miani D Shira to contest from the seat.